US says it will lift some trade sanctions on Russia’s ally Belarus
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The United States says it is lifting sanctions on the Belarusian melting pot, the latest sign of the thaw between Washington and the isolated autocracy.
US special envoy to Belarus John Coale made the announcement after meeting with the country’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Friday and Saturday.
Minsk, a close ally of Russia, has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko ruled the nation It reached 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than thirty years and the country Approved many times by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its own territory in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters, Coale described the two-day talks as “very productive,” Belarus’ state news agency Belta reported on Saturday.
The US envoy said normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk was “our goal”.
“We are lifting the sanctions, we are releasing the prisoners. We are constantly talking to each other,” he said, according to Belta. He also said that with the increase in dialogue, the relationship between the countries is moving from “baby steps to more confident steps”.
In the last meeting of US officials with Lukashenko in September 2025, Washington announced that it had eased some of the sanctions against Belarus, while Mink released more than 50 political prisoners to Lithuania. Overall, Belarus has released more than 430 political prisoners since July 2024; this was widely seen as an effort to rapprochement with the West.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press on Saturday that the easing of sanctions is part of an agreement between Minsk and Washington, where another large group of political prisoners in Belarus is expected to be released.
“The release of political prisoners means that Lukashenko understands the pain of Western sanctions and is trying to ease them,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
He added: “But let’s not be naive: Lukashenko has not changed his policies, his pressures remain and he continues to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. Therefore, we need to be extremely careful in any talk of easing sanctions, so that we do not strengthen Russia’s war machine and encourage the continuation of pressures.”
Tsikhnouskaya also stated that the European Union’s sanctions against Belarus’ potash fertilizers are much more painful for Minsk than the sanctions imposed by the United States, and said that easing US sanctions could lead to the release of political prisoners, but that European sanctions should press for long-term, systemic changes in Belarus and an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Belta said the last round of talks touched on Russia’s ongoing occupation in Ukraine, as well as Venezuela.
Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given “good advice” on how to resolve the conflict and that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were “long-time friends” with “the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.”
“Naturally, President Putin may accept some recommendations and not others,” Coale said.
